No shortage of pitching at 45th Cape League All-Star game

WAREHAM — East meets West Saturday evening at Wareham's Clem Spillane Field as the Cape Cod Baseball League puts on its showcase event, the 45th annual All-Star game.

RUSS CHARPENTIER

WAREHAM — East meets West this evening at Wareham's Clem Spillane Field as the Cape Cod Baseball League puts on its showcase event, the 45th annual All-Star game.

The first serious pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., and this year there should be no shortage of pitchers. That's what happened last year, much to the consternation of the 120 or so scouts, personnel directors and general managers who had gathered to get an up-close look at some of the best college players in the country. The result was position players taking the mound and a follow-up meeting between the Cape League and Major League Baseball.

This year, players must play the position they are selected for, and all All-Star pitchers must be available to throw.

"It's going to be fun," said East manager Scott Pickler of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

"It's good for the fans and good for the scouts. The kids use it as a good time and they know they're going to showcase themselves in front of a lot of scouts. I think that's what it's become. You get the best players in the nation up here, and when you get this many scouts and scouting directors here, it's a good day for them."

Pickler's Red Sox have seven players on the East team, including four starters. Falmouth will be represented by the same numbers.

The starting pitchers are from those two teams. Georgia Tech's Eddie Burns takes the hill for the East, while Missouri's Aaron Crow starts for the West.

Crow leads the league with a 0.52 ERA, having allowed just 18 hits in 34 innings while posting a 32-6 strikeout-walk ratio.

"I feel really honored to have all these great pitchers up here and I'm the one who gets to start," Crow said. "I'm really looking forward to it."

For Burns (4-0, 2.25), it's a privilege he couldn't dream about a year ago.

"Absolutely, it's an honor," the 6-8 right-hander said. "It's kind of humbling. A year ago at this time I didn't think I'd pitch competitively again. I had a surgery on my labrum freshman year of college. Last year, I was about a year-and-a-half out from it and had no velocity. Then this year, things turned around and here I am on Cape Cod, starting the All-Star game. To go from where I was, thinking I would never play again, just to step on the mound again was huge for me. To have this success, it's unbelievable."

As you would expect, the top players in the league are headed to Wareham. The two players battling for the batting crown — Y-D catcher Jason Castro (USC) and Falmouth third baseman Conor Gillaspie (Wichita State) — are starting. The league's home run leader, Y-D shortstop Gordon Beckham of Georgia, and RBI leader, Orleans right fielder Dennis Raben (Miami), are in the starting lineup for the East.

It's a long day, with batting practice and autograph sessions beginning at 1:45 and the home run hitting contest for 4 p.m.